Leonard Cohen

After a years-long touring hiatus, the wittily morose singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen returns to U.S. stages. Catch him and other artists at these upcoming shows across the Southland, with on-sale dates in parentheses. Nokia Theatre Leonard Cohen, April 10 (Mon.) Club Nokia Puscifer, April 4 (Fri.); Pennywise and Pepper, June 3 (Sat.

Leonard Cohen, 83, a co-founder of National Medical Enterprises, one of the first publicly traded hospital companies and a founding partner of the Beverly Hills law firm Ervin, Cohen and Jessup, died May 9 in Modesto. He had been in declining health with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. With Richard Eamer and John Bebrosian, Cohen co-founded National Medical Enterprises in 1969. From its inception, Cohen was an executive officer and director of the firm and oversaw much of the company's corporate development activities.

Philly soul producer Kenny Gamble, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with partner Leon Huff, invited the audience to answer back his wish for "peace." "Thank you so much, because that's exactly what our music represented," Gamble told people gathered at New York's Waldorf-Astoria for the annual ceremony. Madonna, pop music's quick-change artist, was among the other inductees with heartland hit-maker John Mellencamp, songwriter Leonard Cohen, British rockers the Dave Clark Five and surf instrumentalists the Ventures.

If Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff hadn't reached out their hands to introduce themselves in a Philadelphia elevator 45 years ago, the music world might have been denied one of its richest partnerships. The production and songwriting team was the architect of the "sound of Philadelphia" and a rich vein of pop-soul hits in the 1970s. The two men are being inducted Monday into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, part of a class with Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, the Ventures, the Dave Clark Five and Little Walter.

For anyone growing up in the late-'60s, the female voice most identified with Leonard Cohen songs probably is Judy Collins, whose Elektra recordings of such eloquent works as "Suzanne" and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" helped establish Cohen as one of our most gifted songwriters.

Most musical legends have a horde of imitators nipping at their legacies, but there will never be a new Leonard Cohen. Sure, a young pretender could copy Cohen's ground-glass growl, or whip out a Bible and some volumes of European poetry and nail his reference points, but the fullness of meaning that Cohen's songs achieve is nearly impossible to emulate.

Movies like "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" come at you in sections and, more often than not, the sections arrive unevenly sliced. Director Lian Lunson attempts to mold a synthesis of biopic, symposium, concert film and mash note to one of the icons of late 20th century songwriting. The creature that results from such earnest work looks either exotic or distorted, depending on your angle of vision.

Even the traffic gods were smiling I'd like to begin by thanking the couple in the Mercedes parked behind me at the Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday night for allowing me to back up and escape the stacked parking via the row opening up next to us. I'd also like to acknowledge the two blonds in that row who, while waiting for the Acura driver blocking them, set the generous, patient tone of the moment by repeatedly saying, "Life is good!"